How to be Safe in Those Beloved and Dangerous Shoes

I always pick the ones that are going to hurt me. No matter how often I tell myself to go for the sane, stable choices I can't help it—I rush into the insoles of the wild, impractical, dangerous, foot-deforming, hospital-courting, hot-hot-HOT high heels.

Never has their been more opportunity for smart women to make foolish choices about their footwear. With platform pumps and fetish-y, black leather and stilettos digging their heels into the retail world, a woman like myself is like a drunk at an open bar: on her way to falling down.

Thankfully, Yahoo's Shine section ran a little guide this week on how not to break your neck while indulging your preference/passion/fetish for sleek stilts: The most dangerous high heels: 3 types of footwear that can send you to the hospital. The story details numerous injuries caused by high heels, even when they weren't on the owner's feet. It also showcases most popular current styles along with safer alternatives that were, of course, totally unmoving (except for the pumps, which had some retro panache). The point, though— that there might be attractive alternatives to the next-day limp—is well taken, as is the tip of carrying flats with you in case you have to do anything extreme. Like walk.

Maybe I shouldn't enable myself like that and should just kick the bad shoe habit. I know they're all just heels. But I love 'em.